Carbon neutral means finding ways to balance actions that are potentially harmful to the environment with positive ones.

The goal, for businesses and individuals, is to shrink their carbon footprints and become carbon neutral--or, better yet, carbon negative. The concept means they remove at least as much carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide or CO2) from the atmosphere that they add from the use of technology, manufacturing, travel and other activities.

Here's how it works. If you add polluting emissions to the atmosphere, you negate them by purchasing "carbon offsets." Carbon offsets are credits for emission reductions achieved through ventures like wind farms, solar installations and energy efficiency projects.